New Dungeons & Dragons rules embrace sexuality and gender identity

The new rules for roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons embrace different gender expressions and sexualities for the first time.

Version 5 of the fantasy tabletop game’s basic rules officially launched this month, and for the first time encourages players to think about their character’s sexual orientation and how they present their gender.

Part of the character creation section states: “Think about how your character does or does not conform to the broader culture’s expectations of sex, gender, and sexual behaviour.

“For example, a male drow cleric defies the traditional gender divisions of drow society, which could be a reason for your character to have to leave that society.

“You don’t need to be confined to binary notions of sex and gender.

“You could play as a female character who presents herself as a man, a man who feels trapped in a female body, or a bearded female dwarf who hates being mistaken for a male. Likewise, your character’s sexual orientation is for you to decide.”

It adds: “The elf god Corellon Latherian is often seen as androgynous or hermaphroditic… and some elves in the multiverse are made in Corellon’s image.”

Dungeons and Dragons is owned by toy manufacturer Hasbro, through Wizards of the Coast.

Though there was nothing to previously stop people from playing as LGBT characters, it is the first time the ruleset has so openly embraced this.

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